Revision as of 14:58, 15 May 2010

Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth is a collection of stories by J. R. R. Tolkien that were never completed during his lifetime, but were edited by his son Christopher Tolkien and published in 1980.

Unlike The Silmarillion, for which the narrative fragments were modified to connect into a consistent and coherent work, the Unfinished Tales are presented as Tolkien left them, with little more than names changed (the author having had a confusing habit of trying out different names for a character while writing a draft). Thus some of these are incomplete stories, while others are collections of "factual" information about Middle-earth. Each tale is followed by a long series of notes explaining inconsistencies and obscure points.

As with The Silmarillion, Christopher Tolkien edited and published Unfinished Tales before he had finished his study of the materials in his father's archive. Despite its shortcomings in editorial consistency, Unfinished Tales does provide more detailed information about characters, events and places mentioned only briefly in The Lord of the Rings. Versions of such tales including the origins of Gandalf and the Istari (Wizards), the death of Isildur and the loss of the One Ring in the Gladden Fields, and the founding of the kingdom of Rohan help expand knowledge about Middle-earth.

Of particular note is the tale of Aldarion and Erendis, the only known story of Númenor before its fall. A map of Númenor is also included in the book.

The commercial success of Unfinished Tales demonstrated that the demand for Tolkien's stories several years after his death was not only still present, it was growing. Encouraged by the result, Christopher Tolkien began to embark upon the more ambitious twelve-volume work entitled The History of Middle-earth which encompasses nearly the entire corpus of Tolkien's writings about Middle-earth.

1998 edition, 1st impression

1998 edition, 4th impression

1998 edition, 6th impression

Published by HarperCollins, London. ISBN 0261103628 Paperback. Cover design based on artwork by JRRT. This edition may have been introduced as early as the 5th impression.

2000 edition

Published by HarperCollins, London. ISBN 026110215X. Hardback in dustwrapper. Cover illustration by J.R.R. Tolkien. At least three impressions have been printed. The ISBN isbn "0261102168" was listed in the book incorrectly, the correct ISBN is listed on the dustwrapper.

2000 Book Club edition

Published by HarperCollins for Book Club Associates, London. Paperback. Cover illustration by J.R.R. Tolkien. The ISBN for this book is listed incorrectly as 0261102168.

Library Binding Edition 2001

Ballantine Edition 2002

Easton Press (2004)

Published by Easton Press. Leatherbound with ribbed spine, AEG in 22k gold, moire endpapers, ribbon placeholder, bells, and whistles. Sold only in a set with The Book of Lost Tales Part I & The Book of Lost Tales Part II.